Happy Valentine and Vietnamese New Year 2010!

Recipes for a Chinese New Year Celebration

If you're wondering what the inscription on the photo is, it says "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới" or Happy New Year in Vietnamese. This year, since the Asian New Year follows the Lunar calendar, we have 2 celebrations at the same time: Valentine's Day and Tết (the Vietnamese New Year). We're going to be celebrating a romantic Lunar New Year of the Tiger !

I've started decorating the house with things that symbolize the New Year. I went to San Jose and bought Vietnamese flowers called bông vạn thọ, which literally translates to "longevity flowers". As usual, every year, I'm on a quest to find the best bánh tét. It's a must to have traditional food for Vietnamese Lunar New Year. I went to several different stores on Tully road (San Jose, California) and I'll give you the results this weekend of the best places I've found. Some of you might not know what a bánh tét is; it's a ake roll made from sticky glutinous rice and red beans with a center of mung bean paste with or without meat. The flavors vary; there could also be bananas in place of the lentils and meat. 

If you are observing the tradition of eating vegetarian foods (ăn chay) on the last day of the previous year and first day of New Year, check out my tofu recipes.

For more details about Chinese New Year celebrations, check out last year's post.

Bánh Tét (Sticky rice roll cakes wrapped in banana leaves).

Romantic Dinner Menu for Valentine's Day

It's that time of year again. Valentine's Day is this weekend, and I’ve gone through the recipes I’ve published and put together a list for you in case you’re preparing a romantic dinner for your sweetie. I've included every kind of dish you could want to make, from soups and salads to main courses and desserts. The recipes I picked are relatively easy to make, so that you aren't stuck in the kitchen all evening.

So get out the candles, put on some nice romantic music, and prepare a delicious meal for the one you love. Joyeuse Saint-Valentin!

Beef Hot Pot (Bo Nhung Dam, Shabu Shabu)

If you're a beef and seafood lover, this Vietnamese-style beef hot pot recipe is for you. Bộ những đám (literally beef dipped in vinegar) is the Vietnamese equivalent of the Japanese dish called shabu shabu, but with additional seafood ingredients. The broth is made with coconut soda, chopped onions and tomatoes. On a separate platter, gather the raw beef, shrimp, baby squid and octopus, fresh pineapple, cooked rice noodles, bánh tráng (dried rice paper sheets) and various aromatic herbs. The prep work is quite labor-intensive; you have to have a lot of company to make the meal worthwhile. The more, the merrier.

Place an electric hot pot in the middle of the dining table and let everyone dip and cook the beef and seafood in the fragrant broth and assemble their own rolls using the rice paper sheets. Dip the rolls in mắm nêm dipping sauce. It's made of fermented fish paste, which is very strong. If fermented fish paste is too overwhelming, you could ultimately use nước mắm chấm (fish sauce) or soy sauce (nước tương chấm) for a milder flavor.

Vietnamese beef hot pot is a very festive meal because it's fairly expensive and quite time-consuming to prepare. It's what one of my uncles would call "đặc biệt", or "only for special occasions" in English. On my Papa's side of the family in France, all my cousins (including me) married non-Vietnamese spouses but I can guarantee you they all know the meaning of the word "đặc biệt" (which means special). Whenever, we're invited to my uncles' homes, they offer a lot of đặc biệt meals. "Lulu, it's đặc biệt, you should try this, it's delicious!" as one of my uncle always says to my husband. So this recipe is dedicated to my uncle François, whom I call Chu Bay (Uncle #7. He's Papa's 7^th brother and that's how you show respect in the Vietnamese tradition).

It's perfect for a winter meal and just in time for the Chinese New Year, which is coming very soon.

Black Forest Cake

Black forest cake is a very moist chocolate cake made with crème fraîche and cocoa powder and layers of kirsch (cherry liqueur), cherry jam, mascarpone, maraschino cherries and chocolate shavings. I baked the cakes in mini heart-shaped springform pans, perfect to surprise my husband Lulu for Valentine's Day! Of course, now that I've written it here, he won't be surprised. I'll have to come up with something else. What can I say; his loss is your gain.

I had my first black forest cake (Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte) in 8^th grade during German class. We were learning the German words for different ingredients and I remember that it made us all very hungry. In the German textbook, there was a recipe for black forest cake. One of the girls in the class decided to make the cake and brought it in the next day. It was so delicious that I've kept the recipe ever since, though with a few changes. Guten Appetit!